Culture

Politics and potatoes rose to the tops of our Twitter feeds this week

From a Lin-Manuel Miranda and J. Lo collaboration to a 12-year-old and her potatoes, political advocacy in unexpected places was rampant on Twitter this week.

Politics in expected places came from a brief but piercing Disney-themed Twitter war between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and influencers showed their support for the many people affected by the tragic shootings that took place in the U.S. this week.

Even though Hillary Clinton’s email controversy was back in the news this past week, a bigger political Internet scandal might be the rumor that first daughter Sasha Obama has a secret Twitter account. In a speech he made on Clinton’s campaign trail, President Obama uttered the Internet-shattering phrase: “Sasha tweets.” Twitterers have had hilarious reactions to the scoop, with many people pretending their accounts are actually run by Sasha.

2. This week's tragic shootings

Status Creative's CEO Jeff Barrett commented on how heartbreaking this week's tragedies were on Twitter. After waking up three mornings this week to the devastating news of the murders of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and five police officers at a Dallas protest, many celebrities and influencers used social media to respectfully show their support for those affected.

3. Donald Trump tried to cover up his Twitter faux pas

Someone on Donald Trump’s campaign team tweeted a graphic that featured Hillary Clinton’s face, $100 bills and the phrase “most corrupt candidate ever!” on a Star of David. The image was quickly taken down and replaced with a similar one that boasted the text on a circle instead.

4. Hillary Clinton spins lyrics from a favorite Disney movie to put Trump in his place

In an attempt to make up for his Star of David error from earlier in the week, Donald Trump tweeted an image of a Frozen coloring book that displays the words “With 50 stickers!” on a six-pointed same star, and asked where the outrage was for that book. Just 14 minutes later, Hillary Clinton whipped out some Frozen wordplay and challenged Trump with “Do you want to build a strawman?” thereby sparking a newfound interest in politics in thousands of children.

The former The Hills star Spencer Pratt isn’t shy about his obsessions with Taylor Swift and The Bachelorette. We were all Spencer this week when we overanalyzed Taylor Swift’s Fourth of July party and cried over The Bachelorette being a rerun. It’s also worth noting that even though Pratt has nearly 1 million followers, some of his tweets (most of which are hilarious) only have a handful of likes. He’s culturally relevant again, people.

6. John Krasinski and Emily Blunt welcomed a surprise bundle

What better way to celebrate the 4th... than to announce our 4th family member!!! 2 weeks ago we met our beautiful daughter Violet #Happy4th

Power couple John Krasinski and Emily Blunt used Twitter on July 4th to finally announce some big news – apparently the couple secretly welcomed their second child two weeks ago. Blunt must have (deservedly) laid low the past two weeks, because she successfully hid all evidence of her new lack of baby bump. Congrats, John and Emily!

Who knew that our favorite childhood dictionary could be so sassy and politically correct? When Merriam Webster used the singular “they” in a tweet, author Andy Smarick started a bit of a Twitter war by replying, “I won't be baited into a pronoun agreement fight” over and over. Merriam Webster politely challenged him back with, “The singular they, my friend!” A short twitter war ensued, which Smarick wound up following up with a lengthy blog post describing his position and defending it as partially being sarcasm. Either way, Merriam Webster’s defense of the singular “they” made a strong statement.

8. Lin-Manuel Miranda and J. Lo made a song together to benefit Orlando shooting victims

9. Xeni Jardin’s tweet about ISIS

Journalist Xeni Jardin made a powerful statement about ISIS and Muslim stereotypes that has been retweeted over 50,000 times. Muslim Twitter users responded to Jardin with a wave of kindness and appreciation for her simple breakdown of why ISIS should not be associated with Muslim people.

10. A 12-year-old discovered the deeper meaning of potatoes

When Twitter user Maria simply asked her sister to peel potatoes, she was surprised to find such a deep interpretation of them on her Snapchat story. "People are like potatoes. The colour of skin or having marks doesn't matter," the first Snap read. "Because they're all the same once the skin is removed." Maria shared the two Snapchats to Twitter, and the Tweet has been both liked and retweeted over 20,000 times.

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